Thomas Prince program going full STEAM ahead

The STEAM program takes a practical approach to learning.
Submitted photo In the Wachusett Regional School District, Thomas Prince School has taken the lead in providing both the staff and the students with the skills necessary to achieve a stronger focus in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math, otherwise known as STEAM.

In a TPS classroom, students create an expansion bridge using toothpicks, marshmallows, paper clips and masking tape. The designs are uniquely different despite a common goal of supporting three base-ten blocks. Students discuss why the design is or is not working and experiment with changes that need to be made in order to meet the lesson’s goal.

Staff from Thomas Prince School have partnered with WPI in the Stem for District Leaders Program, with a focus on four very specific goals: to improve the content knowledge and professional skills of the STEAM educators; to increase STEAM literacy for all learners including those who do not pursue STEAM related careers or additional study in the STEAM disciplines; to develop effective communication skills in order to work productively in diverse settings; and to expand STEAM experiences and knowledge of STEAM opportunities by supporting curricular and extracurricular STEAM opportunities.

The energy of the staff and the students at Thomas Prince School can be captured by a walk through the halls, a brief observation of a classroom, and/or a conversation with professional staff. Those 21st century skills that we know are necessary for our future as a country are becoming infused in the design of lessons across all grades, taking on a whole new meaning in integrating cross-curricular instruction.

Literacy strategies are evident throughout the kindergarten hallways where students demonstrate the ability to make inferences as depicted in their art and the brief descriptions included. Kindergarten students build trains of ten and demonstrate not only the ability to add and subtract to “make ten” but the skills needed to problem solve and think critically as to how they can acquire the blocks they need while working together with classmates to help each other meet the goal established by the teacher.

In grade 4 classrooms, a representative from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) discusses watershed with the students. Using simple materials such as a water basin, crumpled newspapers and a plastic trash bag students create a model that could demonstrate watershed. To support the observations made with the model, a map is drawn up that shows how water run off from the Thomas Prince School eventually will make its way to Boston. The representative from DCR will return to expand upon the significance of watershed and how it affects the environment of Princeton and the families who live there.

In grades 7 and 8, an energy unit is created with the expectation that students will measure potential vs. kinetic energy through the design of an adjustable ramp for a matchbox car. The students make a scale drawing, calculate the amounts of potential and kinetic energy they observe and prepare a scatter plot to compare the two. In grade 5, students design a playground using simple machines. In grade 4, students design a lighting system using reflection and intensity while first graders use Dacta Legos to create simple machines after designing the machine on paper, labeling it and explaining what it does. Second graders work collaboratively with fifth graders to plot a space to plant bulbs after the fifth graders test the soil and create a soil that will be conducive to growing bulbs

The district is accepting in-district transfer requests for the following grades: Half-day kindergarten, grade 2, and limited grades 3, 4 and 5. Visit www.wrsd.net/thomasprince for additional information.